1. Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to a vibration damper with amplitude-selective damping force including a cylinder filled with damping medium; a piston rod guided in the cylinder in an axially movable manner, the piston rod carrying a piston which divides the cylinder into a work space on the piston rod side and a work space remote from the piston rod; and a housing which is axially movable in one of the work spaces, the housing containing an axially movable separating piston which separates the housing into a first work chamber and a second work chamber.
2. Description of the Related Art
In vibration dampers operating in an amplitude-selective manner such as are known, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 6,220,409, DE 40 02 882 C1, U.S. Pat. No. 6,352,145 and EP 1 152 166 A1, at least one work space of the vibration damper is connected to a housing in which a separating piston is displaceable axially within limits between two work chambers inside the housing. Because of the displacement path of the separating piston, only a very slight damping force is generated during a movement of the piston rod in which the displaced volume of one of the work chambers is displaced by a choke between the work chamber and a work space. The purpose of this step is precisely to filter out high-frequency excitations with small amplitudes so that greater driving comfort is achieved overall. In some cases, sporty drivers will miss a certain directness in the chassis in fast steering movements because, besides the stabilizer, the damping forces of the vibration damper also determine the roll or side tilt of the vehicle body.